by Glen Korstrom
Northern News Services

NNSL (Mar 13/98) - The NWT Council of Disabled Persons is having trouble fulfilling its mandate as it looks for a new home.

The council lost its Scotia Centre office space last month and hasn't been able to find new accommodations.

"There's a dreadful lack of accessible facilities in this town," said council executive director Lydia Bardak. "It is essential that we get office space that is wheelchair accessible."

Former landlord Roy Clark notified the group in the summer their lease would expire at the end of February, according to Bardak. That should have given the group enough time to find a new office.

The group searched in the $1,500 price range throughout the summer but then focused on its celebrity auction, Bardak said.

In November, Bardak said the group again turned its attention to looking for space, but came up empty.

The council's difficulties are puzzling to at least one real estate agent.

James D. Clark, owner of Homelife and Sunrise Real Estate, said the council should not have a problem finding affordable space.

"I said (to Lydia around Christmas) if you'd come to me a week earlier you could have had an 800-square-foot place for $900."

And that $900 Discovery Inn space is wheelchair accessible from the back parking lot, according to Clark.

Still, Bardak maintained the council's trouble stems from having to compete with government agencies for wheelchair accessible space, which is not fair, given the group's charitable nature.

Even there, Clark differs.

"I would have no problem if someone came to me from the group and said instead of $900 per month, how about $700 per month," he said, adding that no one from a charitable or disadvantaged group has ever asked him for such a reduction.

Another necessity is for the space to be centrally located, meaning downtown.

The council raises approximately $50,000 per year with government funding being about the same.

"There's no space to have clients come and visit," said Calvin Pond, who volunteers for the Canadian Paraplegic Association, which sometimes used the council's former office for meetings. "It's illegal to meet in a home."

"There's no photocopier," he said before deftly pouring water in a coffee carafe in his kitchen. "There's no fax machine."

Pond now must fight harder for a handicapped parking spot. His handicap decal has expired and the city is giving a pass on ticketing any vehicles in handicap spots.